BANNISTER, Jerry. The Rule of the Admirals : Law, Custom and Naval Government in Newfoundland, 1699-1832. Toronto : "Published for The Osgoode Societyfor Canadian Legal History by University of Toronto Press", (2003). First Edition. Pp (8),[ix]-xix,(7),[3]-423,(9). With tables, diagrams and a few illustrations in the text. 8vo, art-illustrated cardcovers with black spine."The Rule of the Admirals examines governance in Newfoundland from the rul e of the fishing admirals in 1699 to the establishment of representative government in 1832. It offers the first in-depth account of the rise and fallof the system of naval government that dominated the island for more than a century. In this provocative look at legal culture in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Newfoundland, Jerry Bannister explores three topics in detail: naval government in St. John's, surrogate courts in the outports, and patterns in the administration of law. He challenges the conventional view that early Newfoundland was a lawless frontier isolated from the rest of theAtlantic world, and argues that an effective system of naval government em erged to meet the needs of those in power. The Rule of the Admirals sheds light on one of the most misunderstood chapters in Canadian and British colonial history. Drawing on extensive archival research as well as a broad range of secondary sources, Bannister provides a groundbreaking reinterpretation of a critical period in the island's colonial development." - p.[i]. "The Rule of the Admirals opens exciting new vistas on the early socio-economic history of Canada's most recent province" -from the cover. Chapters : 1. Introduction; 2. The Fishing Admirals System; 3. An Unruly Set of People: The Struggle for Judicial Authority; 4. The Establishment of Naval Government; 5. A Fief of the Admiralty: Newfoundland under Naval Rule; 6. Using Mercy and Terror: The Patterns of Criminal Justice; 7. Enforcing the Social Order: Punishment in a Fishing Society; 8. The Fall of Naval Government; 9. Conclusion. With bibliography and index. Very good. 30.00